1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a scarf which may be wrapped around the neck or other body areas of the user to perform a heat transferring operation on the body areas that the scarf contacts.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
A very familiar sight is an athlete coming off the field or court literally soaked in perspiration and needing a rapid cooling of his obviously elevated body temperature produced by the exercise. Generally the first thing that the athlete avails himself of is a towel which he wraps around his neck to remove the excess moisture and to concurrently exert a cooling effect on his neck. Towels have heretofore been provided with pockets for reception of crushed ice which improves the cooling action of the towel; however, the toweling material is an effective insulator and prevents any rapid absorption of heat from the wearer's neck into the mass of ice contained within the toweling material.
There is, therefore, a definite need for a scarf-like wrapping which can contain a heat absorbing material and efficiently absorb heat from a body area to which it is applied.
A similar problem arises for people who exercise during the winter and need protection against the cold, particularly when starting their exercise period. Pads of chemically activated materials have been heretofore available which can be placed in the pocket of a hunting jacket and which generate heat to keep the hands of the user warm. Such heat emitting pads have not, to Applicant's knowledge, been incorporated in scarfs for transmitting heat directly to the neck of the user where it more efficiently assists in maintaining the body temperature. Here again, there is a definitive need for an efficient transmission of heat from the heat emitting mass to the neck of the user, while at the same time providing insulation that reduces the outflow of heat into the atmosphere.
Thus the problem of efficiently removing heat from, or applying heat to a particular body area has not been effectively resolved.